More Than Just Pixels
by saccharine snow
Summary: While staying up late one night, Mokuba finds something very unexpected on his laptop. Shounen ai.
1. Chapter 1

(A/N: Hmm...I don't really have much to say about this one except "Read it!")

Disclaimer: Not mine.

Warnings: Not a single one.

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Chapter 1

Mokuba sighed heavily as he ended his twelfth game of solitaire. He briefly glanced at the bottom corner of his laptop screen to look at the time, which read 12:34.

"Man, niisama will be mad if he catches me up this late," Mokuba whispered to the luminous blue desktop. But he quickly dismissed the thought and laughed softly to himself. Who was he kidding? Seto wouldn't check on him. He was working, like always.

Mokuba drummed his fingers on the edge of his desk as he continued to stare at the brightly glowing screen of his own personal laptop, which at the moment was the only source of light in his bedroom along with the thin strip of light that peeked in from under the doorframe. Outside the spring rain was still pouring heavily, but the young raven-haired boy didn't seem to mind. After all, the steady rhythmic beating of the raindrops on the windowpane were preventing the room from becoming eerily silent, which was one thing that bothered Mokuba terribly.

Mokuba slowly shifted his dark gray eyes to his neatly made bed and debated on whether or not he should finally go to sleep. It was only Tuesday, so he had to go to school tomorrow. But it wasn't long before another sigh escaped past his lips and he turned back to start a new game of solitaire. He wouldn't have been able to fall asleep even if he wanted to.

"_I'm going to go back and stay with my father. But I'm glad that I got to have a body, even if it was only for a little while." _

Mokuba bit his lower lip as the words of his step-brother floated back into his mind. The whole incident in the virtual world had happened months ago, but Mokuba just couldn't seem to push it out of his mind. At times like these, when he was alone and had nothing to distract himself, that last conversation he had with Noa before his death would resurface once again, bringing back all the painful memories that he wished could be forgotten. But the conversation would only play in a continuous loop, with every single word so clear it was almost as if Noa was whispering the words into his ear.

"_I got my human heart back, Mokuba, thanks to you."_

"It's not fair," Mokuba mumbled softly to the floor as he fought back tears that never failed to spring to the corners of his eyes every time he looked back on the day of Noa's death. And it wasn't fair. Noa had been so mistreated by Gozaburo, and that's why he was so cold-hearted at first. But the second he decided to change, his life was stolen away from him. He had saved everyone's lives, and there was nothing that anyone could have done to save his.

Mokuba attempted to distract himself again as he dragged an electronic four of hearts and dropped it onto a five of spades. This would be the last game, he told himself. He had to at least try to go to bed, even if he had to lie in his bed for two hours until he fell asleep. Besides, the expensive mattress of his double bed was much more comfortable than the cushion of the swivel chair that he was currently seated upon.

A few more clicks of the mouse, and Mokuba had run out of moves. He slowly began to drag the cursor up to the exit button when a sudden gust of wind blew through the open window, causing Mokuba to tightly grasp his hands around his small shoulders. When he stopped shivering, he gently eased his tightened muscles and wheeled his chair over to the window and promptly slammed it shut.

Now that no more of the brisk air was able to reach into his bedroom, Mokuba lazily rolled his chair back to the desk to resume his previous task. He had already sworn to himself that after he lost the next game, he would turn off the laptop. And as far as he knew, there were no more moves left.

He once again began to move the cursor up to the corner of the screen to close the program, but right as he was about to click the little grey box and exit his game, the entire screen exploded in a mess of noisy static. Startled, Mokuba jumped back with a short yelp.

"Great," he muttered sarcastically when his breathing had slowed down again. This was a really expensive laptop, and it was new too. And he didn't want to bother Seto to come and fix it, especially considering what time it was.

Mokuba frantically hit random buttons on the keyboard in a desperate attempt to fix whatever had just happened. But not even the power button was working anymore. No matter what he did, the flat rectangular screen showed the same fuzzy picture while an annoying buzzing echoed from the speakers.

"I guess I have to get niisama," he said slowly after pressing a few more combinations of buttons on the keyboard. "But he's not gonna be very happy about this…"

Mokuba trudged to the door, but just as he grasped the knob, he thought he heard a slight change in the buzzing static. Still keeping his hand on the doorknob, he paused before opening the door to listen for a minute. He needed to make sure he wasn't hearing things. Just as he thought, the sound shifted again, and he was just able to make out the choppy voice that was nearly drowned in static.

"…_Mo…ku…ba…"_

Mokuba's body stiffened as he heard his name, but he made no move to bolt out of his room. Instead, his fingers slowly released the doorknob and he made his way back to his desk. He had to find out what it was that just called his name.

When he was standing in front of the laptop, he noticed that the screen no longer looked like a TV with bad reception. Now the snowy grey mess was replaced with a disarray of pixels, mostly white and green in color. Mokuba squinted, but was still unable to make anything out. But it seemed as if the picture was becoming clearer, so he stood there patiently and watched as the pixels slowly arranged themselves.

After a minute, there seemed to be a definite form to the picture. It seemed…human. And familiar too, though Mokuba couldn't quite figure out why. But as the final pixels fell into place and the image became fully visible, Mokuba's eyes grew wide and his heart pounded in his chest, now fully aware of why it had looked so familiar to him.

"You…" he breathed.

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(A/N: Well, who could it possibly be? I'm sure we've all figured it out by now, but that's okay! Just make sure to read the next chappie when I post it. So until then, don't forget to review!

And for anyone who cares, I've also posted four other YGO fics today if you wanna check them out!)


	2. Chapter 2

(A/N: Whew! I didn't think I would be able to get this done today, but I guess miracles can happen! I'm really glad that the first chapter got such good responses, so I hope you all continue to read!

On with the fic!)

Disclaimer: Not mine

Warnings: None

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Chapter 2

"_This can't be real. This must be a joke."_

The same two sentences repeated themselves over and over in Mokuba's mind. But he just couldn't seem to get the words past his lips. His mouth hung ajar and useless as his mind continued to chant.

_"A joke...this must be a joke..."_

The figure on the laptop, however, seemed amused at the whole situation. A pair of sapphire eyes sparkled from behind the screen and the corners of its lips slowly curled up into a smile that showed both delight and relief.

"Hello, Mokuba," came the familiar voice through the laptop speakers. A voice that Mokuba thought he would never hear again except in his dreams.

There was a moment of silence after this, but the figure's voice must have brought Mokuba back to reality somehow, because the raven-haired boy's mind went blank for a moment, and the sudden clarity was enough that he was able to utter a single word.

"Noa..."

The figure's smile grew brighter. "I'm glad you still remember me," he said with a small, lighthearted laugh.

At that moment, Mokuba was overwhelmed with a sudden wave of emotion. Since the day he had left the virtual world, he thought Noa had gone down with it. And with each passing day he had grown to accept the fact that he would never see his step-brother again. Yet at the same time with each passing day, deep down in a place he really never knew existed, Mokuba has been slowly collecting all his feelings of grief that had been associated with Noa.

Now, seeing Noa after thinking he was dead for all this time, the only thing Mokuba could do was allow the tears of joy welling in his eyes to flow down his cheeks and spill onto the desk in front of him, creating tiny saline puddles in next to the keyboard. Noa stayed quiet, allowing Mokuba to finally release all the pent-up feelings he had stored so long.

Mokuba's sobbing quickly subsided, but even then Noa didn't say a word, to allow for Mokuba to speak first.

"I thought...I thought you were dead," he managed to say in between soft sniffles.

Noa shook his head, though his movements seemed unusually stiff. But Mokuba decided not to comment on it. At least not yet. Then Noa let out a soft chuckle.

"Actually, I've been in your laptop the day the virtual world collapsed," Noa explained. "All this time I've been trying to find a way for us to communicate."

Mokuba was confused at all this. "My laptop? But...but how...?"

Noa let out a sigh. "When I made the decision to go back to the virtual world and return your body I hooked your laptop to the main system. It was programmed to send half of my consciousness to the laptop to be saved, while the other half was sent back into the virtual world so I could make sure everyone got out safely."

Mokuba's dark eyes widened in surprise. "You had this planned out?" he exclaimed. "Why didn't you tell me? I couldn't sleep for nights because I thought you had died!"

With a sympathetic smile, Noa shook his head again.

"Believe me, Mokuba, I wanted to tell you. You were the only one who seemed to really care about what would happen to me even after all I did," Noa said, now looking down as he spoke. "But you know, everything was planned at the last minute, so I wasn't sure if it would work, since your laptop wasn't nearly as high-tech as the computer I was hooked up to."

"You still could have told me..." Mokuba mumbled, not really having much of an argument to back his statement.

Noa paused. "Well, let's put it this way," he finally said. "I know that when you thought I died it upset you. But wouldn't it have been better to think that I was dead rather than me telling you my plans and make you wait and wait, and I never show up?"

"I guess you're right," Mokuba admitted. Then he looked up quickly with his eyes wide. "Hey, what about niisama's computer? That's plenty high-tech! How come you didn't download yourself onto that?"

"Simple," Noa answered with a laugh. "But first, how long has it been since the virtual world collapsed?"

Mokuba thought for a minute, then said, "I think it's been about three months."

"Really?" Noa said, "I thought it had only been a week or two..."

Mokuba shook his head.

"Well, that can answer your question perfectly," Noa said. "Since the moment my consciousness was downloaded onto your laptop, I've been trying to find some way to rearrange myself in a way that you would be able to see and hear me. I really didn't have any control over when I would be able to communicate like this. And if I downloaded myself onto Seto's computer, I knew the second I appeared, he would think I was either a virus or some sick joke. And before I would be able to get two words out, I would be deleted."

Mokuba unconsciously lowered his head and bit his lower lip. Even though Noa's assumption about his brother was negative, it really wasn't very farfetched.

Suddenly, Noa laughed, which instantly lightened Mokuba's mood.

"Well, enough about me," Noa said cheerily, "Apparently I've been gone for three months. What have I missed?"

The two talked for awhile, just like old friends catching up after being apart for a long time. In fact, they were having such a good time catching up that Mokuba didn't realize how late it was. By the time he noticed the clock in the corner of the laptop screen, it read 3:10.

"3 AM? Oh man, I have school tomorrow!" Mokuba exclaimed suddenly.

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize it was so late," Noa apologized. "I still really don't know how to access the other parts of the computer yet."

"No, it's not your fault," Mokuba sighed. "I'm just gonna be dead tired tomorrow."

Noa smiled. "Well, just go to bed. If it's really that late, then you need your rest."

Mokuba made his way over to his bed, but froze the instant he had lifted the covers.

"Noa...you'll be here when I wake up tomorrow, right?" he said, trying his hardest not to seem worried, even though he knew his emotions weren't hard to read.

"I promise," Noa said confidently, and Mokuba was once again at ease. "But, just to be safe, do you think you could leave the laptop on tonight? At least until I figure out how everything works in here?"

"Of course."

Mokuba eased himself under the covers of his bed, and at that point he began to feel the effects of staying up so late.

"Good night, Noa," Mokuba said quietly. As he closed his eyes, he was instantly lulled into a peaceful slumber.

"Good night, Mokuba," Noa whispered back. A gentle smile slowly spread across his face as he watched the raven-haired boy. "Sweet dreams..."

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(A/N: Yeah, I know that this chappie wasn't horribly exciting, but I needed to set the scene for things that will happen later. Chapter 3 should be more exciting.

I will try my best to post again by next Friday, so until then...REVIEW!!!)


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